I and the president: the saga of a Genesis theorist and a dictator
Today marks the 29th anniversary of Mu'wiya Ould Sidi Ahmed Tayyi''s ascent to power in a bloodless coup in Mauritania. This mysterious man is the only former president who is not dead and not in Nouakchott. When he came to power, I was only 5 years of age. My late grandmother associated his coming to power with rain. He came after a long draught. He was a blessed man in her imagination. He would not be as good when her grandson came home eighteen years later from the university with a bloodied-face and a few other minor scars and bruises after a crackdown on a protest at the university. That was the end of grandma's support to the president, even though she openly put the blame on me. Of course, I made sure to exaggerate the brutality of the police and my bravery pushing them out of campus along with my comrades. I repeated the story so many times that I forgot the true one, the one where I wasn't able to resist beating and teargas and had to run for safety. When h...